Manatee County will spend $32.5 million for new complex at SR 64 and Lena Road

Manatee County on Tuesday approved the spending of $32.5 million to purchase 161 acres along State Road 64 in East County for a new operations center to serve the fast growing areas of Lakewood Ranch and Parrish.

The land will be purchased for $187,488 per acre and the money will come from county reserves ($16.8 million) and the utility department ($15.7 million).

County officials said the purchase will improve infrastructure maintenance efficiency in adding miles of roads, pipes and traffic signals each year.

Manatee County's field crews currently have facilities in western Manatee County near GT Bray park and another near Tropicana in the central part of the county, which covers more than 800 square miles. County officials said it had become inefficient to serve the eastern part of the county from those facilities.

The acreage is located at the corner of State Road 64 and Lena Road, adjacent to the Lena Road Landfill and the Southeast Wastewater Treatment Plant. A county release said the site will host its Public Works department, utilities field infrastructure and fleet support services. Eventually a district operations center, fleet service and other support facilities for the Manatee Sheriff’s Office will be added. 

“This concept is a shared, centrally located county government complex to improve efficiency of services in the central/eastern portion of the county,” County Administrator Cheri Coryea said in a release.

A county release said the land purchase will help prolong the life of the landfill by six years and estimated that value at "$75,000,000 in landfill air space."

Coryea also said the site is close to Interstate 75 and S.R 64 for great access.

“There’s a lot more pressure today on infrastructure support services such as water, sewer, EMS, drainage and stormwater, transportation and the field crews to efficiently serve the community,” Deputy County Administrator John Osborne said in the release. “These high-growth areas in east Manatee are experiencing more and more service requests.”

In 2018, County Commissioners directed staff to look east for a new government facility to help meet space needs and to more efficiently respond to service requests.

“This is just about building something that should have been built 10 years ago,” Manatee Sheriff Rick Wells said in the release. “The property itself is a good location because it will service the needs of our day-to-day fleet operations and it will be easier for my deputies to go to that location.”

A Sheriff's Office district office at the site will replace its office near S.R. 64 and I-75. The release said the property will accommodate 100 cruisers waiting for maintenance.

County officials said the site eventually might host an EMS station.

“(Commissioners) have had a history of making big, bold decisions when necessary,” said Commissioner Priscilla Trace in the release. “These are tough decisions, but if we do this today, 50 years from now, they’ll still be working out of this new site.”

The commissioners voted 5-2 in favor of the purchase with Vanessa Baugh and Stephen Jonsson voting against it.